Like relatives who came for Thanksgiving and wouldn’t leave, the snow and ice glaze over the North Olympic Peninsula made no signs of waving adieu until late Wednesday.
Residents continued the push to restore power and send kids back to school, but cold weather and slick conditions continued to present a danger for motorists and those trying to stay warm on Wednesday.
Rain and warming began to in some parts of the county late Wednesday night.
Today, the National Weather Service predicted rain showers with the high temperature near 40 degrees and a southwest wind around 10 mph.
A snow storm struck on Sunday, followed by freezing weather.
Since then, Sequim and Port Angeles, firefighters have been answering more medical emergency calls than usual, and have seen a sharp uptick in ground-level falls.
“A few fractures, but nothing life threatening,” said Sequim’s Fire District No. 3 Chief Steve Vogel.
Port Angeles Fire Chief Dan McKeen also said falls have been more common since the Earth was shellacked with ice.
But it wasn’t just walking that posed a threat.
McKeen urged drivers to slow down on ice and travel only when necessary.
Those with four-wheel-drive vehicles, beware, McKeen said — better traction doesn’t mean it takes less time to stop on a sheet of ice.
“People think they are invincible in a four-wheel-drive vehicle,” McKeen said.
Although power is being returned to thousands that went without it for days, efforts to keep warm can be fatal.
State Patrol spokesman Brian George reported three car crashes in Jefferson County on Wednesday, two on state Highway 19 in Beaver Valley and one on U.S. Highway 101, south of Mount Walker. No injuries were reported.
The county roads in between the state highways have been sanded on icy stretches, using all 10 of the county’s sander trucks.
Those trucks were scheduled to be sanding early this morning,, said Monte Reinders, county engineer.
Few accidents were reported in Port Townsend on Wednesday.
Puget Sound Energy spokesman Dennis Smedsrud said all power had been restored in Jefferson County after a smattering of outages this week.
Only a small outage in Quilcene was reported Wednesday, the result of a tree falling, Smedsrud said.
Rich Langlois, public information officer for the state Department of Transportation said the stretch of state Highway 104 leading to Hood Canal Bridge was the worst for road ice on Tuesday, but that had diminished on Wednesday.
